On 27 July 2020, ANACOM visited Ourém, at the invitation of the Mayor, for a meeting with local representatives, where the topic of debate was the difficulties experienced with fixed and mobile voice and Internet communications. The Chairman of ANACOM, João Cadete de Matos, presented the results of the performance assessment study on mobile services and GSM, UMTS and LTE coverage carried out in Ourém Municipality to the Mayor of Ourém, Luís Miguel Albuquerque.
At the meeting with the municipal council and the presidents of the parish councils in the municipality, the representatives shared their concerns about the impact that poor fibre optic and mobile network coverage has on the life of the companies and families in the municipality, which the COVID-19 pandemic has brought more clearly to light. It was these problems in the municipality that led the Mayor to request the meeting with ANACOM, which sent a team of technicians to the area for four days to check the quality of the service. At the meeting, potential solutions were looked at for resolving the communications problems recorded in the municipality, particularly bearing in mind the 5G implementation process. Infrastructure sharing and national roaming were some of the topics covered at the meeting, as ways of minimising the problems felt in the region, as well as the development of wholesale solutions or negotiation with the service providers with a view to the extension of fibre optic coverage.
In the field study carried out by ANACOM, the fieldwork for which took place between 13 and 16 July, 1,106 voice calls were made, as well as 6,767 data sessions and 623,981 radio signal measurements, with 951 kilometres travelled during testing.
The conclusions of the study point to a large variability in radio coverage: very good or good quality signals; areas with values far below adequate parameters, particularly for UMTS and LTE, with significant levels being observed of bad radio coverage and areas where coverage is non-existent.
The voice service shows adequate average performance overall, but there are relevant differences between operators. For data services, the file transfer service generally has adequate capacity for establishing and retaining data sessions. Internet browsing and YouTube video streaming services and data transmission latency checks showed a significant decrease in these capacities.
In the file transfer sessions successfully established and maintained, reasonable average overall speeds for data transfer were recorded, both for downloads and uploads, with relevant performance differences being observed between the operators. This indicator shows very high variability, with maximum values of 132.64 Mbps and 58.81 Mbps and minimum values of 0.003 Mbps and 0.010 Mbps, respectively, for downloads and uploads, which makes data transmission under adequate conditions difficult, or indeed impossible.
Internet browsing and YouTube video streaming services, as well as data transmission latency, have poorer performance levels compared to file transfers, and some differences between operators were also noted.
In the meeting with the local representatives, the Chairman of ANACOM also explained the migration process for the digital terrestrial television (DTT) network transmitters and the measures adopted by ANACOM to minimise the impact of this process on the people.
Left to right: João Cadete de Matos, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ANACOM; Luís Miguel Albuquerque, Mayor of Ourém.
Left to right: João Cadete de Matos, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ANACOM; Luís Miguel Albuquerque, Mayor Ourém; João Paiva, Division of Communications Market Oversight of ANACOM.
